Gabriel is 7 ½ years old. I’ve only been sponsoring him since August. I haven’t met him. I’ve only received one letter from him. He likely won’t understand this at his age, but he’s been the catalyst for my eyes opening to the situation of millions of children around the world. Not only that, but I’m more alert to the work that my cousin is doing in a city near where Gabriel lives.

I’ve gone on compassion.com on a nearly daily basis—sometimes several times a day—to learn all I can about what Compassion does to help release children from poverty. By learning about poverty, hunger, and the different ministries of Compassion in the different countries and child development centers around the world, I have an increasing desire to share what I’m learning with others. I’ve begun the process for being trained as an Advocate.

I’m also looking at the world in a different way. When I go to Walmart, I think about how much we have access to; how today’s children as a generation don’t understand the concept of having to wait for things. We live in a materialistic world, one of instant gratification.

While I won’t change the culture of 21st century America, I can change my outlook on things and talk to those around me. I can’t change the world, nor can I sponsor every child, but I can change the world for one child, and I can be an advocate for the others.

God has used my sponsored children to make me realize I need to live more simply so that I have more to share with them and with others who really need it. My family recently got rid of our TiVo, turned our heat down, and turned our water heater down a little so that we will save that money for something much more important. Here in America we have so much and these kids in various countries don’t. We can live more simply so that others can simply live.

One child that I’m really impressed with is Shedenka. Shedenka is 9 years old, but I think she has the gift of encouragement. She gets my letters and then there are other children in her project, who don’t get letters, so she encourages them by telling them that their sponsor might be really tired and has to work very hard and will probably write really soon and then the children feel better. She also really believes that what she prays for will happen. She told me that she loves to get a certain Bible and she is praying for it and she believes that she’s going to get it. Of course then I bought it for her. But when you see her, she is so happy and has such a sweet smile. She’s truly so outgoing and loves the other children.

That’s her when she got an autographed picture of Hunter Gomez. Now, she is also part of Hunter Gomez’ website (www.huntergomez.com) and Corgi’s website (www.aboutcorgi.com)

She loves my little dog, Corgi. She asks me to scratch Corgi on the head and then at the end of the letter, she tells me: “Now, don’t forget, scratch Corgi on the head for me.” She also draws him on her letters many times.

My sponsored child is my hero… because despite the environment she lives in, she said something in one of her letters that I will never forget; (I’m sure other sponsors have heard this too, but it is so True isn’t it.)

she said in her letter, “I’m ok because you always remember me in your prayers.” That just lets me know even more that she knows someone cares about her, and most of all that God is concerned about her.

My sponsored child, Vanessa, who is a fourteen year old girl in El Salvador is my hero because in one of her letters she said “I only have two friends because the others don’t like it when I talk about God.” Yet she still praises God and continues to talk about him. Wow.

My sponsored child, Shamim. During my first year of sponsorship, when she was about 11 years old, she lost most of hearing. But in every letter she’s always praising God, talking about her friends and teachers, and telling me what she’s learning about God. She taught me so much about God’s sovereignty as she was going through many doctors appointments for her ears and nothing really helped. She told me that when God wants her to hear, she will hear…and until then, she’ll learn how to serve God without hearing.